Hi everybody! I know I haven’t posted in a while, so I thought I’d post a couple fun recipes I came up with while playing with my new Vitamix blender. I burned out my old blender a couple weeks back and was debating splurging on a Vitamix instead of just getting another regular one, and I’m so glad I did. The ease of cleaning alone is worth it, and it is so powerful!

Peanut Butter Nice Cream

Nice cream (or ice cream made from bananas) is so hot right now, especially as we get closer to summer. There are a million ways to make it, but this is mine! I added a little maple syrup the first time I made this and it was waaay too sweet, so don’t worry about adding anything to sweeten this, the bananas are sweet enough.

Ingredients

2 frozen ripe or overripe bananas

1/2 cup soy or nut milk of your choice

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons peanut butter

1/2 to 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (optional)

Directions

Put the bananas, non-dairy milk, and vanilla in the blender and start mixing on low, gradually increasing the speed as the bananas break down. Once the mixture starts looking like ice cream, add the peanut butter and cocoa and mix for another 30 seconds to 1 minute, or however long your blender recommends. Top with fruit or nuts as desired, or enjoy it plain!

And for our next experiment…

Cashew Date Butter

As long as you have a good blender, this one is super simple. I was debating adding just a little bit of agave or sugar to my cashew butter tonight and I realized that dates would add just the right amount of sweetness to the cashews. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 cups raw cashews

4 medjool dates (pits removed)

Directions

Pour the cashews in your blender and follow the blender’s directions for nut butters. Using my Vitamix, I started on the low setting and slowly increased the speed while pushing the cashews around with the stick. Once the nut butter is almost formed, add the dates and blend for a little longer until you have a mostly smooth butter. I took care not to run the blender more than 20-30 seconds at a time so as to not burn out the motor.